Of Love and Power
by MattyDreamer
Summary: When Kuwabara Kazuma falls in love with a girl he rescued, his world takes a turn for the better. But is she really what she seems? His friends and family don't think so. NEW CHAPTER
1. Reiko the Demon Hunter: Chapter 1

Title: Of Love and Power Rating: PG-13 for future violence and mouthiness Disclaimer: I do not own YYH. Some one with far more money than me owns them, so sue them instead. I did not received any payment for the writing of this fic.... well that's not true. There was a cookie mentioned. Reviews: Yes Please! The more you review, the more I write.  
Reiko the Demon Hunter's POV  
The cool night air rushes past my face, heady and sweet with the scent of cherry blossoms in full bloom. Is it summer already? How quickly the time flies. I can feel my blood pounding a tribal beat in my ears. My lungs burn in my chest as I race through the shadowed city streets, hot on the heels of my demon quarry. The repulsive, mottled-brown monster lurches clumsily around the corner, smearing the wall with a streak of dark orange blood. I am mere seconds behind and turn to find the demon has run itself into a dead end. Prey that traps itself? How convenient! It stares at the building blocking its escape and finding no recourse it turns reluctantly to face me. Glaring defiantly out of its one remaining eye, it painfully shifts its weakened hulk into a defensive stance. The creature pants heavily, even with this small motion, pronged red tongue flicking out of a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. More orange blood oozes sluggishly from a thousand wounds, dripping into pools at its hoofed feet. I can sense my enemy summoning the last of its strength for a final, desperate strike. The demon has spent too much of its spirit energy on the struggle to keep its quickly failing body alive, but if it wants to go down swinging, I see not reason not to grant it this last request. I can't help but let a triumphant smile touch my lips, as I feed a little more energy into my shields, the light reflected in the eyes of my opponent as they flare into sight. I draw my weapon from the sheath at my back. The sword hums, awakened by my touch. My ki races down my arm to the very tip of my katana and back. It is a part of me and I a part of it. I slip easily down into a half- crouch, my blade before me like a cobra about to lash out.  
"It's time to end this, old friend." I say and my heart pounds with excitement. Finally, the time has come for me to avenge my family, to destroy the foul creature I have hunted almost all my life. Take note, silly mortals. Today is the day that Reiko the Demon Hunter steps out from mediocrity into the place of legends.  
The demon's maw curves up in a grotesque parody of a smile and in its eye, I see not the fear and surrender I hope for, but laughter. Even in my moment of glory, this creature dares mock me. This is the last straw. I leap forward, sword high above my head.  
"DIE!" I howl into the dark night. My body jerks violently, as a bright white light blinds me. I try to throw my hands up to protect my eyes but I can't move. My sword falls from my numb fingers, clattering noisily on the ground. My triumphant war cry devolves into a tormented scream as the power rips through me. It tears at my guts and my heart and my head and...then, as quickly as it came, it's gone, replaced by a thousand dull aches. My vision seems strange and I shake my head to try and clear it, but it doesn't seem to help. I bend laboriously, reaching for my sword and stare at the hideous talon I see reaching for it where my hand should be. 


	2. Amarente the Demon: Chapter 1

Title: Of Love and Power Authoress: Matty Dreamer Beta'd By: Ceromorrigan Rating: PG-13 for violence Reviews: The more you review, the more I write.  
Disclaimed and De-clammed  
  
Amarente the Demon's POV  
  
It worked?  
  
It is the shock that hits me first, the utter disbelief that even one so powerful as I could accomplish such an amazing feat. The sheer magnitude of what I have done makes me feel powerful beyond the telling of it...or at least it would if my newly acquired body was not shaking and rattling about like a desperate man in a raven's cage.  
  
The feel of my new form is exhilarating and luxurious and I savor all the unfamiliar sensations. I am eager to test out this human vessel, a young body unhindered by wounds or age. Oh, the things I could do with this body...  
  
... But perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. Things are best done one step at a time, no?  
  
I open eyes once tightly clenched in another's pain. The view is disorienting to say the least and somehow vastly different. It takes me a while to discover the reason. I have two eyes!  
  
It has been nearly fifteen years since Reiko's eldest brother carved out my right eye with a shard of broken glass. It was a dirty, deceitful trick I would have heartily approved of had I not been on the receiving end of it. How fitting it is that all due reparations have been paid to me in the form of his kin! What would he say to that, I wonder? Probably nothing, considering I tore his throat out and watched him bleed to death, gurgling and convulsing at my feet, but if he were alive?  
  
Movement within my expanded field of vision draws me from my introspections. I admire the grace of a long serpentine neck as the dragonhead droops. Reiko is coming to. She reaches for her weapon, apparently unbothered by the transfer... that is, until she sees the talons. She freezes, astounded, I'm sure, by the pure elegance and strength of the brilliant little pieces of architecture that are now her hands. Or perhaps she has only just come to understand what has taken place. It matters little. Reiko was right about one thing. It is time to end this.  
  
I start toward the sword, but my newfound legs crumple beneath me, as though the ground at my feet has suddenly turned to quicksand. I yelp as I slam into the gravelly pavement and the jarring impact echoes through my bones. I blink rapidly and try to determine which stars are only in my eyes. The impressive hulk of a furious demon suddenly blocks the view of the night sky.  
  
Reiko seems to be adjust- Blinding, searing heat rips through my stomach and I howl my pain to the heavens above. Suddenly, I am keenly aware of the frailty of this human body. With one hand across my midsection, I crawl back; battling the fierce burning that accompanies my every move, even as I struggle with the mindless panic that threatens to overwhelm me.  
  
Reiko is upon me, snarling like the demon she has become, raising a razor-sharp talon to strike me down.  
  
A yell, a battle cry, breaks the silence that stretches between us. A blue form imposes itself before me and I hear the faintest squelch of blood and tissues.  
  
Reiko's piercing wail is quickly gone as she sinks to the ground, dead.  
  
The red-haired man, no, child, looks down at me in concern. His mouth moves as though he is speaking, but in my mind I hear only the whispers and joyous revels of demons.  
  
"Reiko the Demon Hunter has been slain and Amarente, truly the greatest of us all, lives on in her body!" 


	3. Kuwabara Kazuma: Chapter 1

Title: Of Love and Power

Authoress: Matty Dreamer

Beta'd By: Ceromorrigan

Rating: PG for things you wouldn't see in a Disney movie

Reviews: The more you review, the more I write.

Disclaimed, but never dissed.

Kuwabara Kazuma's POV 

I can't quite tell if she's still alive, as I lean over her. I put away my spirit sword; the oozes and entrails that had been clinging to it splatter to the pavement and spray the girl's pale face with tiny pieces of demon guts. On instinct, a half-formed apology springs to my mind before I remember she might be dead. To my surprise, she turns away with a tiny whimper and the blood spilling from her stomach begins to run out onto the concrete and spread.

She's hurt; she's hurt real bad. She's gonna die while I'm standing right here! What do I do? What do I do? What do...? The hospital! It's not far! I can get her there! She'll be okay. Yeah, she'll be okay.

Carefully, I lean down and gather her in my arms as gently as I can. This time she doesn't even make a sound. This is bad. This is really bad. Her head rests on my shoulder as I rise and I can feel her trembling as I hold her close. Something warm and wet begins to seep through my shirt.

I think I'm gonna be sick, but I don't look down. I just keep walking, one foot in front of the other. I can't believe how quiet it is on the street tonight. Isn't there someone, anyone, out here?! The bright lights of the hospital prove to me that at least someone is alive in this city. The ER doors swish open before me and everyone in the waiting room stares. The nurses pause mid-step, surprise painted across their features.

"Would someone please help us?" I yell. That seems to wake them up. Within seconds, the girl is taken from me and disappears down a hall, surrounded by babbling doctors. A nurse tries to press a clipboard full of papers into my hands, but all I can do is shake my head. I don't know her; I've never met her before. Hell, I've never even seen her before.

I notice, for the first time, that my shirt is sticking to my skin as I try to sit down in one of the chairs and before I can stop myself, I look. The blood, her blood, has soaked its way all the way through the fabric, turning the bright blue to a dark purple-black. This time, I really am going to be sick. I barely make it to the restroom in time to avoid making a scene. I stare into the mirror as I wash my mouth out. What am I gonna do?


	4. Komada: Chapter 2

Of Love and Power: Chapter 2 Komada's POV

Authoress: Matty Dreamer

Beta'd by: CeroMorrigan

Rating: G

Disclaimer: Standard

For every review I get, I will write another chapter.

Author's note: If you don't recognize the names in this chapter, they're Kuwabara's gang. Sh'arra you need to call me as soon as you read this. There's something you should know about Brian.

Komada's POV

It's late when the phone rings. I thrust my hand out from under the covers angrily, questing blindly for it. I bump something and it crashes to the floor. I swear. My cell phone rings persistently and suddenly that ring tone I thought was so charming isn't so cute anymore. How would you like to be awakened at.... 2 a.m.(Can it really be that late? Who in the hell would call me now?) by Usher's "Yeah Yeah"? Finding the phone, I snatch it off its charger forcefully.

"Hello?" I snap.

"Komada?" says the very tired voice on the other end. Immediately I sit up straight. It's not like him to call like this.

"Kuwabara? What's going on? Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." _Like hell you are!_ I think, biting my tongue to keep silent. _What has that damned Urameshi done to you this time?_ "Could you go by my place and bring me some clothes? Mine'r kinda thrashed. I tried calling but no one's home."

"Sure, man." I say as I drag myself out of bed and begin to search for clothes and keys. "Where do you want me to bring them?"

He hesitates and I can almost see his face as his mind races, sorting through a thousand possibilities at once. When he answers, I understand why.

"...the hospital."

So I do, but not before I call Okubo and Kirishima.


	5. Kirishima: Chapter 2

Rated PG-13 for language

Author's note: Everything about Kirishima and the boys is completely made up. The more reviews I get, the more I'll write.

Kirishima's POV

I reach the hospital long before the others, my fury quickening my feet and propelling me forward when my heart would rather hesitate. I hate this place; despise all of its glaring white lights and self-proclaimed purity. The smell of sickness is thick and cloying, if only in my mind. My stomach heaves, trying to reject the foulness around me, trying to keep it out. Yet as I stand in the halls of the diseased and dying, it is a different kind of malady I have come to fear. A slow and seemingly unstoppable devastation has claimed my best friend, a plague and pestilence that calls itself Yusuke Urameshi.

Maybe you think I am being paranoid and melodramatic. After all, Urameshi is just some low life punk, isn't he? Bad news for sure, but pestilence? Plague? Perhaps those words are a little harsh…

I don't think so.

When Kuwabara pulled my sorry ass out of the gutter three years ago, I thought he was a weakling, a fool. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Lying in the gravel that morning, my guts slowly leaking out into a small puddle beside me, I knew I was dying. I was only thirteen years old but I knew I was dying. My lower body had gone cold with more than just the morning chill and my vision was slowly starting to haze. Which was fine with me, it was getting awful hard to keep them open anyway. I recall thinking distantly that if I had only been a few seconds faster, I could have out run that other boy and would even now be scarfing down my stolen breakfast. The warm egg and rice dish would have been nice on a morning like this, I mused bitterly as I began to shudder. Suddenly, a great blue shape obstructed my vision. (He always wears blue, it seems….)

"I thought the Grim Reaper wore black." I muttered in dazed surprise. The last thing I remember is his soft replying chuckle. After that, my vision gave way to nothingness and I didn't wake up for a long time.

I didn't know it then, but by the time he scraped me off the pavement, Kuwabara was used to playing the hero. He had already "rescued" Komada and Okubo. I was just another lost soul he reached out to…and it was an uphill battle every step of the way. I wasn't anything like Komada or Okubo, not some good kid fate had played tricks on or pushed into desperate measures. I was a street kid, born and bred. I stole, mugged, and generally did whatever I thought I had to to survive. All he had to do was make them strong, give them confidence. Me…he had to make me human.

After I recovered, Kuwabara brought me home to live with him and Shizuru. Suspicious as hell, I kept waiting for him to demand something in return, but he never did. When I stayed out too late, he was always in the living room waiting for me when I stumbled in. When I nicked some cash and was too slobbering drunk to find my way, he always found me and dragged me home. Never a harsh word said or a hard hand fell. There was only an unspoken disappointment and pity. I hated the guilt that he made me fell. Finally, I snapped.

With a bottle of whiskey in my belly, I was angry and just looking for trouble. When Kuwabara interrupted my third fight of the night, I was incensed. What was his problem? How dare he try and run my life? Why wouldn't he just fuck off and leave me alone? In a rage, I swung at him with all my might. Sidestepping it with ease, he knocked me off my feet and glared down at me with hard black eyes. I wanted nothing more than to disappear, to escape that look. I tried to apologize, but my mouth just wouldn't cooperate. Without a word, he slung me over his shoulder and carried me home. It was the last time I did anything like that again.

Looking back on it all, even knowing Kuwabara like I do, it hard to believe he put up with all my shit. I attacked his honor code every chance I got and sneered at his compassion. Yet, somehow, those very things I viewed with such contempt are now the more important part of who I am. I can't think of a single moment when it all changed, but maybe things like that just happen so slowly, we don't notice until it's too late.

Standing before the room the nurse at the front desk directed me to, my fist ball up and I fight the impulse to slam my knuckles into the brick wall until all this anger inside me fades away. I really wish I could pound them into Urameshi instead! Try as I might, I can't place where it all went wrong. Maybe that change happened gradually too…

What I do remember is the first time we came to this hospital looking for Kuwabara. We found him beat to hell with his arm in a cast, broken in at least three places, the doctor said. Who had done this? We wanted to know. How had this happened? We were angrier than we ever thought we were capable of. He refused to talk about it; told us not to worry and that everything was fine. (FINE!) It was the beginning of a viscous pattern.

He disappears with Urameshi and those other strangers for days, sometimes weeks at a time. When he comes back he almost inevitably ends up here. I can't help but wonder what it will be this time. A few more broken ribs, another punctured lung? Something worse?…Something fatal?

But to be totally honest, it's not the wounds I can see that worry me. It seems like every time he comes back, the light in his eyes it a little dimmer. He smiles less, drifts more. We all see it, but no one ever says anything. (Like talking about it would make it more real.)

Steeling myself for whatever awaits I open the door to find…

…

…

the most beautiful creature I've ever seen laying on the bed. Her angelic face is so pale it almost matches the stark white hospital sheets. Long fans of ebony hair brush across her cheek and I can't help but wonder what it would feel like to lean in close and press my lips to hers, like Prince Charming awakening Sleeping Beauty.

To my surprise, her eyes slid open ( they are gray, like fog rolling in off the ocean). My heart stops in my chest as she captures my gaze in her own.


End file.
